VPT to provide toilets in 50 govt. schools

The Cleanliness Fortnight campaign was formally flagged off at the Sambamurthy Auditorium of the VPT Administrative Office Building on Friday.

Visakhapatnam Member of Parliament K. Haribabu accompanied by Visakhapatnam Port Trust Chairman M.T. Krishna Babu inspect a toilet facility at CBM High School in Visakhapatnam on Friday. -Photo: C.V. Subrahmanyam

The Visakhapatnam Port Trust would provide amenities in all government and government-aided schools in its neighbourhood, VPT Chairman M.T. Krishna Babu said.

The VPT plans to provide toilets with running water in some 50 such schools over the next couple of years and in the first phase it is building toilet blocks in 20 schools as part of the Swachh Vidyalaya campaign of the Central government, he said speaking after Visakhapatnam MP Khambampati Haribabu formally inaugurated the block built at CBM High School in One Town here on Friday. The VPT would also provide the benches for the students in the school, he added. The VPT has distributed notebooks to students and would continue it this year in all the schools it is associated with.

The MP appreciated the efforts of the VPT in roping in experts from Gayatri Vidya Parishad for building the toilet block in the school using best and economic technologies available. He urged the students to own up the facilities and maintain them.

Basic amenities

Listing out Education, Health and Skill Development as his priorities, the MP said that he has been focusing on ensuring basic amenities in schools and would later spend his MPLADS funds to provide additional facilities like mobile science laboratories to improve experiential learning for the students.

The MP inaugurated the toilet blocks in MVDM High School and Sacred Heart High School later on. Since the GVMC underground drainage was available the discharge from the toilets was connected to it.

VPT Deputy Chairman P.L. Haranadh, heads of departments of Visakhapatnam Port Trust and officials of GVP College of Engineering, school correspondent Nayar, headmaster and teachers and students were present at the CBM School.

Swachha Pakhwada

The Cleanliness Fortnight campaign was formally flagged off at the Sambamurthy Auditorium of the VPT Administrative Office Building on Friday. Mr Krishna Babu administered the Swachh Bharat pledge among the employees.

Listing out the programmes being taken up by the VPT under its corporate social responsibility, he said that apart from providing toilets in 22 schools, the Port was paying Rs. 3,500 per month for maintenance in each of the schools. He invited suggestions from employees and public for the better implementation of Swachh Bharat.